IMS basketball teams lose to Lone Tree

IMS lost to the Lone Tree Lady Lions 34-46 Tuesday evening, Jan. 10.

IMS got off to a solid start leading 5-1 midway through the first quarter. Stifling defense and quick transition offense led to success early on for the young squad.

IMS carried that momentum into the second quarter, and continued to execute for good looks on the offensive end.

?It was great to see us come out and execute early on,? IMS head coach Kari Heusinkveld said. ?The girls bought in to the game plan and were very focused.?

Despite early foul trouble that limited the small squad to just five players after the first quarter, IMS hung tough and battled on both ends of the floor.

IMS and the Lady Lions headed into the locker room tied 19-19 at the half.

Though IMS put together back-to-back controlled quarters, they were unable to string together a third. Full-court pressure and turnovers disrupted the young squad as the Lady Lions opened the half with a 15-2 run and never looked back.

IMS was held to just four points until midway through the fourth and only attempted nine shots within that time frame.

?This was a disappointing loss tonight,? Heusinkveld said. ?We?ve been taking big steps forward in our last several outings, but this second half was a step back.

?Basketball is a game of runs and adjustments, and we just didn?t respond in that second half.?

Suzanna Yoder led IMS with 21 points, five steals and two assists. Avery Blauvelt added seven points and eight rebounds, while Mia Graber grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Alyssa Hershberger, Calli Shaw and Rubye Ney rounded out the scoring with a bucket each.

The IMS girls have a 0-10 record so far this season.

Lone Tree snapped IMS? five-game winning streak Tuesday, Jan. 10, winning 56-46 in Hillcrest Union. IMS got down 14-2 early, before scoring eight straight to trail 14-10 after one quarter.

The momentum continued into the second period as IMS outscored the Lions 19-10 to take a 29-25 halftime lead.

The turnovers and poor shooting that plagued IMS early returned in the third quarter, and Lone Tree regained the lead and more, outscoring IMS 21-5 in the frame to lead 46-34 entering the final stanza.

IMS cut it to 49-41 with just under six minutes to play, but could get no closer against a stingy Lion defense.

Cole Yoder scored 10 points, and Nick Yutzy and Mitchell Schmieder each tallied nine points to lead the IMS scoring attack. Reggie Borntrager had seven points.

Trevor Leyden connected on a pair of triples for six points, Cole Ours hit a trey for three points, and Caleb Gingerich finished with two points.

Yutzy also recorded five assists, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Schmieder had a team-high five rebounds, and Ours, Gingerich and Leyden had two assists apiece.

Coach Dwight Gingerich said, ?it was unfortunate we struggled to take care of the ball early, but I really liked the way we played in overcoming that early deficit by just playing the game, taking care of and moving the ball, rebounding, and hitting shots.

?Lone Tree stepped up the defense in the third quarter and we had trouble making shots, and we consequently lost the momentum. We have a chance to learn a lot from this game and hopefully we can build on that, turn the page, and move forward.?

IMS drops to 5-4 in conference play, 7-4 overall, and next plays Friday, Jan. 13, at Wapello. Tipoff for the girls game begins at 6 p.m.